I'm A Fool to Want You
by periwinkled
Summary: '"Oh, boy," she said under her breath as Bruce drew her into his arms. "What was that, Princess?" "I was only expressing joy at the singular honor of being Bruce Wayne's first dance of the night." "Were you really."' BWWW, as well as lots of other folks & pairings.
1. The Mood That I'm In

_Disclaimer: Everything belongs to DC et al. Except for the pseudo-science. That stuff is alllll me._

* * *

Diana of Themyscira, known to most of the world as Wonder Woman, was not having a great day.

She and some of the other founders had stayed overnight on the WatchTower after an accident in one of the station's laboratories had pushed back their regularly scheduled meeting and it had run late. As a result Shayera had bunked with John, whose cabin happened to be next to Diana's. As the Green Lantern and the former Hawkgirl were still in the honeymoon period of their reconciliation, Diana was excruciatingly aware of the dearth of sleeping that was happening in the next cabin over, even through the reinforced steel walls (a necessity on a ship full of metahumans who were disconcertingly fond of throwing each other about).

To escape, she set to wandering the halls of the station. In the old days, she would have sought out J'onn, who had always kept odd hours and been a reliable companion in her occasional insomnia. But J'onn was with his wife in China, where he spent most of his time. She wandered down to the training rooms, where she found Black Canary pummeling a helpless bag. It wasn't the first time Diana had come across Dinah in the gym in the middle of the night, so she wasn't surprised when the other woman invited her to spar. Dinah was a favoured sparring partner, as Diana had to focus as much on her restraint as she did on her reflexes, a constant mind exercise. Black Canary was no Batman, who had honed his reflexes to practically superhuman speed, but she kept Diana on her toes nevertheless. And since Bruce never stayed overnight on the Tower-unless he was unconscious-Dinah was the best she was going to get.

Eventually the two women, satisfied with their mutual pummeling, parted ways. Diana, rather than go back to her cabin, found herself on one of the observation decks, looking down at Earth. Eventually, she drifted off on one of the benches. Which is where Flash came across her the next morning, quite by accident.

"Diana, hi! Good morning! I was just making the rounds. A little jog, no barriers broken." He paused to breathe and idly shook the iced latte he held. "Did you sleep here?"

Diana liked Wally, but he was a lot to take when she was at her best, and sleep-deprived with a crick in her neck was far from her best. She rolled her shoulders and fought the urge to grunt in response. "Yes."

When she failed to offer an additional explanation, Flash blinked. "Oh. Okay." He shook the cup he held again, rattling the ice.

Knowing their shared fondness for iced mochas, Diana focused greedily on the cup. "Is that for me?"

"What, this?" He looked down at it in surprise, as if he'd forgotten he was holding it. "Oh, yeah. I mean, no. I mean, shoot, Diana, I already drank half of it." He sounded genuinely distressed.

"That's alright. I'll go to the commissary and make one." Diana stood and stretched. She was still wearing the stretch pants and top she'd sparred in the night before, she realized blearily. She'd need to go by her cabin and change. She tried to be as professional as possible on the station.

"Actually, um." Flash cleared his throat awkwardly.

"You used the last of the syrup."

"I'm sorry! I thought you were already up. You're _always_ up before me. Why weren't you up before me? Why were you _here_?"

"I couldn't sleep, that's all." Diana started back to her cabin.

Flash tagged along. "But you were sleeping. I saw you."

"Flash." Diana heard the warning in her voice, and winced. Although it rarely seemed to bother him, Flash got a hard time from a lot of his teammates, and she'd made it a personal rule to always be patient with him. She really wasn't at her best. Oh, how she wished there was a mocha on the other side of this morning fog.

Her friend stepped back, his hands raised in apology. "I know, I know. Too much Flash, too early in the morning. Bats has already grunted as much at me."

"Batman is here? But it's...daytime." It wasn't, not really. They were in space, after all. Well, low-Earth orbit. But based on the home cities of the majority of their human members, and for ease of scheduling, they kept the Watchtower schedule synced with the United States Eastern Standard Time. Which meant it was arbitrarily...Diana glanced at a nearby wall-mounted clock...8:30 am. Late for her to be rising, but definitely early for Batman.

"Emergency meeting. Haven't you checked your comm?"

Diana spread her arms, indicating her workout clothes and clear lack of communicator.

"Oh. Right." Flash slurped his drink, having seemingly forgotten his mocha-related mental anguish of only moments ago. "Superman called it. There have been rumblings of the Secret Society sort," Flash paused, relishing his alliteration, "_sssssso I hear."_

"Lovely. When's the meeting?"

"9 o'clock. So you better hurry!" With a final slurp of his mocha and a jaunty salute, Flash dashed off.

* * *

Putting on her armor always seemed to wake her up, but Diana was still disappointed to discover that no new bottle of syrup had miraculously appeared in the commissary. Since she abhorred coffee unless it was liberally laced with chocolate, she settled for brewing herself a cup of strong tea and mixing in as much honey as she could find. It was nowhere near the quality of the honey they harvested back home on Themyscira, but it would have to do.

She ran into Batman on the way to the Founder's Room. He grunted at her. She grunted in response. He paused infinitesimally, and she thought he regarded her with something like shock. Not that one could really tell while he was wearing the cowl, but years of practice (and a fair amount of close, un-teammate-like perusal of the lower half of his face) had educated her in the ways of the Batman's expressions. She understood his surprise. He was the Night. He was not a morning person. Diana usually rose with the dawn, wherever she was.

She shrugged slightly, and cradled her tea closer to her chest. "Insomnia."

Batman considered that. "Did Shayera stay with John?"

Diana smiled, despite herself. "That, too." She sipped her tea, savoring the honeyed warmth. "Mmmmm. Do you know what this is about?"

"What?" She glanced at Batman, who was suddenly expressionless. And not his normal, Batman dispassionate nothing, but a studied lack of expression. He looked away.

"The meeting," Diana pressed. "Do you know why Kal called it?"

"Yes."

Far from off-putting, Batman's laconic response was comforting in its familiarity. "Feel like sharing?"

"In the meeting." He stopped walking. They'd reached the Founder's Room. He keyed open the door, then gestured briefly for her to proceed him inside.

They were the last to arrive, which was highly unusual for both of them, but no one commented on it as they took their places in their usual seats. Even J'onn was present, which provided something of an explanation for the unusually early hour of the meeting. It was nighttime in the small village in Northern China where he now made his home. This was probably the most convenient hour for him to meet with them.

Diana smiled across the table at her friend. "Greetings, J'onn. How is Zhi?"

The Martian smiled and inclined his head in response. "Zhi is well, Diana. Thank you." While J'onn's wife was aware and accepting of his true identity, J'onn wanted to protect her from any repercussions of having married a founding member of the Justice League, so none of his teammates had ever met her. Diana, however, was fascinated by the human woman who had soothed her friend's terrible loneliness, and asked him all about Zhi whenever they were together.

"In fact," J'onn continued, "she's partially why I called this meeting."

Flash glanced around in confusion. "I thought Supes called the meeting."

Superman nodded. "At J'onn's request."

"Zhi noticed that the plants at the edge of our garden, nearest to the river, were dying, and oddly. The plants turned purple, pulled their roots out of the ground, and then died. I brought samples when I visited last week."

"Last week? Then why are we only hearing about this now?" John asked.

"Because it showed up in Gotham." Batman spoke up.

Flash blinked. "In...Gotham?"

"Or something like it did. I came across an abandoned warehouse looking not-so-abandoned on patrol. Someone was using it to store cannisters of something I didn't recognize. I took a sample, ran it through my system, and got a ping from the Watchtower sample library."

J'onn took over the explanation. "The material Batman found appears to be a distilled version of the toxin contaminating our river."

"Wait," Shayera spoke up. "Is this the stuff that got out in the lab last night?"

The night before, a liquid had unexpectedly turned into a gas during a routine lab test, and the lab itself had gone into automatic quarantine.

Batman nodded. "That was the sample I brought up. In its base form, the toxin doesn't appear to be designed to react that way."

Diana leaned forward in her chair, catching onto the urgency of the matter. "So someone designed this thing so it would go from liquid to gas on command?"

Batman turned slightly in his chair to face her. "Looks that way."

"And this is the same toxin that caused your plants to die, J'onn? I assume you tested the river water for it?"

"I did."

"How much was present?" Superman asked.

"Only the barest amount."

"So in its distilled form, like what Batman found, it's-"

"Incredibly deadly." Batman finished Diana's statement. Diana swallowed hard. She didn't like the idea that any amount something so deadly was in Gotham. She didn't like that it was _anywhere_.

"J'onn, have you determined how the toxin was getting into your water?" Superman's question pulled Diana back to the issue at hand.

"I have. It seems the toxin comes from a rare plant that grows at the base of Mount Tai Shan. On its own, it has some small healing properties, but is otherwise benign. It is certainly not deadly. Somehow, another chemical became introduced to the plant-whether by accident or design, I do not know. Possibly due to run-off from a nearby factory. However it happened, someone other than my wife has discovered its destructive properties."

"And encouraged them, it seems." John commented.

"Yes, I have no doubt that in order to achieve the toxicity of the material Batman found, someone much have deliberately manipulated it."

"Great." Shayera's tone summed up the feeling of the room.

Superman sat back, in a move that Diana had come to realize he did in meetings when he was mentally moving onto the next topic. "Determining what this toxin can do and what we can do to combat or neutralize it should the need arise will be top priority."

No one said anything for a moment. It was assumed the need would arise.

Batman was the first to move, rising from his chair. "If that's all?"

Superman nodded. "It is. Let's keep an eye out for this. Its potential is unthinkable."

Batman nodded once at the room at large, then turned to leave.

"Wait-I thought this meeting was about the Secret Society," Flash spoke up.

"I've heard rumors. Nothing concrete," Batman said, before striding out the door.

"Double great," muttered Shayera.

Diana stood as the others did, sent J'onn a quick mental farewell, received his nod in response, and followed Batman out.

When she reached the hall, she couldn't remember why it had seemed so important that she speak to him, but she spotted his cape as it fluttered around the corner and pursued.

"Batman!"

He slowed his pace slightly as she jogged up beside him, but did not stop or otherwise acknowledge her presence.

"Exactly how many cannisters did you find, exactly?" He hadn't specified, and it was such an obvious oversight that it had to have been deliberate. Kal hadn't pushed him on it, which made Diana think that he already knew the answer to the question.

"Only a couple dozen." Alarming, but not as potentially catastrophic as it could have been. Still...Batman was often brusque, but Diana had learned the difference between when he was simply being succinct, and when he was holding something back. Right then, he was holding something back.

"But...? There's something you're not telling us."

Batman stopped and turned to face her. They were around the corner from the teleporter. "But there was evidence that more had recently passed through the warehouse."

She took an involuntary step towards him. "How many-"

"I don't know. I don't, Diana." He cut her off before she could press him. "It's why I need to leave. I have leads to follow."

She searched his expression as best she could with the cowl shielding his eyes, then nodded and took a step back. "Alright. But Batman-" she reached out to touch his arm as he turned to go. She barely made contact, but he froze. "I know how you feel about having us in Gotham. And I understand why you do." She allowed herself a small, wry smile. "Sort of. But if this toxin is as bad as we all fear, if there's as _much_-"

"I'll call. The people of Gotham are worth more than my pride."

She drew her hand back. "Good. Be careful."

He nodded, then made for the teleporter.

* * *

Bruce Wayne, playboy billionaire by day and masked vigilante by night, wasn't having a great day, either.

He'd contacted J'onn as soon as he'd made the connection between his warehouse cannisters and J'onn's tainted water, but the couple of hours of sleep he'd caught between then and the early morning meeting had been fitful at best.

A chemical agent, in Gotham. At that quantity and potency. It disturbed him, far more than he'd let on in the meeting (although he thought Diana may have figured it out).

And then there was Diana herself. He knew the rest of the team had had a late night on the Tower with the incident in the lab, but he'd never seen her look so..._rumpled_ before. Wally had mentioned finding her asleep in her sparring clothes on Observation Deck B, and Bruce hadn't been able to decide if he was gratified or disappointed that he'd missed that. When she'd moaned while drinking her tea, he'd nearly turned around and headed back to the transporter, emergency meeting be damned.

They'd always been flirtatious, the two of them, bantering and teasing while on the job. It worked for them. Diana had indicated, quite directly at times, that she'd be open to pursuing a romantic relationship outside of their work. Bruce had been tempted, nearly to the point of succumbing, especially after their run-in with Circe. But in the end, they were too different, their lives and missions too far apart, even on their shared heroic spectrum.

Then there was J'onn. As genuinely glad as he was for him, seeing J'onn's happiness in his simple, human life (as well as Diana's pleasure in their friend's contentment), reminded Bruce of all that he was deliberately locking out of his own life. Even knowing his reasons were good, and reminding himself of them, repeatedly, didn't quell the desire that was a seemingly constant thing within him.

He pulled the cowl off and dragged his hands through his hair, hoping if he used enough pressure, he could physically push his thoughts away. It didn't work. He poured himself a cup of coffee from the silver pot Alfred had left in anticipation of his return. He didn't have time to dwell on what-ifs and maybes and his own godforsaken love life. He had work to do.

* * *

**A/N: **Hi. This is my first story even remotely comics-related. My only real familiarity with the DC verse is through the animated Justice League, so adjust your expectations accordingly!


	2. You Go To My Head

_Disclaimer: Everything belongs to DC et al. Except for the pseudo-science. That stuff is alllll me._

* * *

In the wake of the emergency founders' meeting, an air of dread seemed to hang over the Watchtower. Word had gotten out about the toxin, which was already being referred to by the shortened "TS Toxin," in reference to Mount Tai Shan, the only place they knew of the plant growing. The group of founders made an effort not to keep the rest of the League in the dark, even about the things they discussed in their closed-door meetings. Openness and honesty were the names of the game, both on the Tower and on Earth.

Diana had originally planned to spend her day in the Themysciran embassy on Earth, but she couldn't shake the feeling that leaving would be a bad idea. So she stayed. The trouble was, she wasn't actually on the schedule for the day, so she had nothing to do but wait, and lurk, and worry.

After the meeting, she had breakfast with Shayera. John actually was on the schedule, and Shayera had monitor duty later on, so she was hanging around without her usual company. It was nice, and briefly distracting, to indulge in a little girl talk with her teammate. As they chatted about the woman that Flash was currently unsubtlety mooning over, Vixen walked into the commissary. Shayera glanced at the other woman, but didn't react otherwise.

Vixen, whose day job was as a model, always seemed to look like she'd just walked off the runway, even in the heat of battle. Her appearance this morning made Diana especially conscious of the shower she'd skipped in her hurry to get to the meeting. She must have made some small noise, because Shayera shot her a curious look.

"What's wrong?"

Diana felt instantly foolish. "Oh, nothing. Just realizing I never combed my hair before putting my tiara on."

Shayera looked her over with a critical eye. "Diana, I think the fact that there's a tiara involved at all automatically grants you a pretty good measure of glamour."

"Sometimes I wish I could just go out in a ponytail."

"What's stopping you?"

Diana paused. "Well...it's my uniform. My armor. I can't just wear part of it."

"So it's a status thing?"

"I suppose so. I am not only Wonder Woman, after all. I have no secret identity to hide the rest of my life behind. I am only Diana, and that means I have to be both hero and ambassador at all times. It is the same for you, isn't it?"

"I shed the Hawkgirl thing, of course. But I can't get rid of my wings as easily as I did the mask. I've been spending a lot of time in Detroit with John. Some people get angry when they see me." She shrugged, but Diana could see it still bothered her. "But as long as I'm not, you know, trying to steal their planet they seem to be okay with me."

It was common ground that she and Shayera had never discussed, and it warmed Diana. Her teammate's betrayal had been a difficult one to forgive, but Shayera had been in an impossible situation. Diana now fully embraced Shayera's friendship and membership in the League, and to her knowledge, Batman-who, along with Diana, had voted to kick Hawkgirl out-did as well.

Vixen passed by their table on her way out the door, smoothie in hand. She nodded at Shayera, who returned the gesture. It was no friendly hug, but it was certainly more cordial than Diana had expected, considering that John had broken with Vixen in order to be with Shayera.

Diana looked at Shayera in surprise. "That was almost friendly."

"Yeah, we're okay."

"You are?"

Shayera shrugged. "I mean, I'm not her favourite person, but we set some ground rules a while back. I actually think I surprised her with how it went down."

_It_ was presumably John's break-up with Vixen.

"She kept expecting me to make a move on him. But I decided I'd lay my cards on the table and let him make the move. Not my usual style."

Diana imaged not. But then, Shayera had waited 5 years for the Thanagarians to arrive, so clearly she was capable of patience.

"I'm glad it worked out, however it did. And that there's no additional friction in the League." The League had no guidelines regarding fraternization-beyond some people's personal rules-which meant that situations could sometimes get sticky.

"Yeah, we'll have each other's backs in a fight. I like her, actually. I can see why John went after her."

It was a more mature reaction than Diana would have expected from her friend, but Shayera seemed to have calmed considerably since shedding her Hawkgirl mantle. "She is certainly a formidable warrior."

"Yes, she is. Of course, we also bonded when we were battling _you_."

Diana felt herself blush. The incident where Roulette had used mind control to coerce the women of the Justice League into battling in cage matches had sent Batman into a frenzy creating an entirely new encryption protocol for their communications array. It wasn't one of Diana's prouder moments, though she was no more at fault than the other women had been. She'd simply been more destructive.

"I have apologized for that."

Shayera grinned. "Yes, you have. And someday I'll let you live it down."

"But not today."

"Nah."

* * *

Bruce started the day tugging on sources in an attempt to discover who had moved a large quantity of the toxin into his city and how. That he'd heard nothing about it when the substance was so unknown was especially disturbing. It spoke to a level of organization that was uncommon in Gotham, so beloved by petty criminals and crazy people. It made him give more credence to the Secret Society rumors.

He decided he had a better chance of running down those rumors than finding the toxin, so he focused on the Secret Society instead. Less than two hours later, and mainly thanks to social media, he had a series of reports indicating Society movement in a small town located roughly midway between New York and Gotham. Giganta wasn't big on subtlety, and even at her resting human size, she was noticeable. At least she was to the Twitter-using teenagers in the town of Riverton. Giganta alone wouldn't have set off alarms, but Bruce had reports from other sources of Killer Freeze being in the area, and if those two were willingly in the same vicinity, someone was pulling the strings.

If the group had anything to do with the toxin, it was more than worth pinging the Watchtower over. Bruce contacted Mr. Terrific, and advised him to loop J'onn in if he could. Once he'd used the official channels, he contacted Clark directly.

"Yes?" Clark was in Metropolis at work, so he would be as to-the-point and unrevealing as possible.

"Got a possibility. We should go tonight. Tower's got the details."

"Sounds good."

There was no click to indicate that Clark was gone from the line, but Bruce knew that, League business dispensed with, each of them had returned to their day lives. He checked the time. 4 o'clock. Alfred would be making tea.

Upstairs, he found his butler carrying the tea tray towards the cave's clock entrance and intercepted him.

"I'll take it up here, Alfred."

"Very good, Master Bruce."

Being out of the cave and amongst the fine things his parents and grandparents had so painstakingly collected helped him to shift his mind fully out of the Batman place it had been all day. Bruce stirred a single sugar cube into his tea.

"Any commitments tonight?"

"Yes, sir. The Children's Hospital is holding a gala. You are expected to attend."

"Am I?" Bruce sipped his tea.

"Indeed. You are, after all, their chief donor."

"Got me there." It had been a while since Bruce Wayne had made his last memorable public appearance. He could show up and still have plenty of time to meet the League in Riverton. "Very well. We'll leave at 9."

"Very good, Master Bruce. Will you be going into the office?"

"I don't think so, Alfred. I've got some tests to run."

* * *

"Canapé, Your Majesty?"

Diana smiled automatically at her hostess. "Please, I prefer Madame Ambassador," she said, for at least the third time that evening. But the new Mrs. Carlisle was desperate to make her mark in the Gotham social scene, and hungry enough to ignore Diana's own wishes in favor of impressing onto her peers the triumph of having royalty attending her first gala. It would not be the last time Diana would correct her that evening, she was sure.

"And yes, I would love a canapé." She took one of the delicate hors d'oeuvres from the proffered tray and smile kindly at the waiter holding it. "Thank you."

"Of course, Your Majesty," Mrs. Carlisle fluttered. Diana stifled the strong urge to roll her eyes at her, and nearly laughed aloud when the waiter did so instead.

Before Diana had the opportunity to correct her again, a small commotion at the far end of the ball room distracted the simpering woman. She quickly excused herself.

"It seems Bruce Wayne has arrived," she murmured.

The waiter, who had not moved away, overheard. "How do you know?"

"Attend enough fancy parties in Gotham City, and you learn to recognize the sound of a Wayne entrance." In the years since he had come to her rescue at the party in Paris, Diana had attended quite a few social events with charming cad Bruce Wayne. Sometimes they would go the whole night without even acknowledging one another (not that Bruce was ever present for more than an hour, unless he was the host), while on others, he would ask her to dance.

She wondered which one tonight would be.

* * *

Bruce knew she was there nearly as soon as he walked in, and not merely because the first words out of Mrs. Carlisle's mouth were boasting the royal presence. He could see her statuesque form across the room, clad in a deep red gown. After extricating himself from his clinging hostess, he snagged a glass of champagne and made his way down the room towards her.

He should have ignored her. When they interacted at these things, it got talked about. A lot. He spotted the recently divorced daughter of one of his competitors, and knew his time would be better spent making waves in that direction. But Diana drew him tonight, and he couldn't resist.

By the time he'd made his way through the morass of social obligations, dropping witticisms and smiles as he went, she was dancing with someone. He tensed up despite himself, then smiled when he realized it was Commissioner Gordon.

Up close, her dress was even more arresting. Radically simple in design, it was strapless, cut straight across the bust, and fitted to the waist. The floor-length skirt was a narrow a-line shape. On another woman, it would have been boxy. On Diana, it was sumptuous, her curves filling out the dress' straight lines until all a man could think about was filling his arms with her.

If there'd been any doubt left in his mind about pursuing her tonight, it was quickly gone.

"You have an admirer," Jim Gordon murmured as he led her through a turn.

"I wonder whoever that could be," Diana responded dryly. She caught Jim's smile out of the corner of her eye. "I don't know why he bothers, we don't even get along."

"And I suppose he asks you out to dinner after every dance?"

"Every one," Diana confirmed.

"If he bugs you so much, why come to Gotham at all?"

Diana drew back far enough to look Jim fully in the face. "Why, to dance with you, Commissioner Gordon! Why else?"

He laughed, and gave her hand a squeeze as the song came to an end and they drew apart. "If he gets too pushy, just toss him through a wall. I doubt if any of the men will mind."

She chuckled. "Ah, but Jim, you forget-I'm an Amazon. What use are the wishes of men to me?"

Jim joined her laughter. "None at all, Madame Ambassador."

"I don't suppose my wish to dance might be exempt from that statement, would it?"

Diana turned from Jim to greet the newcomer. "Mr. Wayne."

"Princess. Commissioner Gordon." Bruce grinned at her and Jim in turn.

"Mr. Wayne. I suppose you expect me to simply relinquish the hand of this lovely young lady to you?"

Diana refrained from pointing out that she was hundreds of years older than either of the two men.

"If you would be so kind," Bruce replied. "And if the lady in question is willing."

They both regarded her quizzically. She could hear the band starting back up. "Oh, alright."

Bruce smirked in triumph. Diana turned and gave Jim a quick hug.

"Thank you for the dance," she said.

"Right through the wall," he murmured in response. She laughed as he walked away.

The music started and the band's singer stepped up to the mic. "_I'm a fool to want you_," she crooned, and Diana nearly rolled her eyes for the second time that evening.

"Oh, boy," she said under her breath as Bruce drew her into his arms.

"What was that, Princess?"

"I was only expressing joy at the singular honor of being Bruce Wayne's first dance of the night."

"Were you really," he said, using that sardonic rumble that was almost his Bat-voice.

"Of course," she replied. "I'm positively on edge at these events, wondering if your eye will fall on me."

He smirked. "I'd say I've more than paid my debt, Princess."

"Yes, we have come a long way from Paris, haven't we?"

He met her eyes in a way that told her he'd understood her full meaning. "Yes," he said with a terseness better suited to Batman than Bruce, then covered it up by pulling her in closer as they continued the dance in silence. Now that he had his hands on her, the dress was even more seductive. He slowly dragged his hand from her back to her lower hip, loving the feel of the velvet under his skin.

He felt Diana stiffen, heard her quick indrawn breath. "Hell of a dress you're wearing, Princess."

"Bruce," she said in warning. They were teetering on the edge for her, and he knew it. She didn't play this game as well as he did, and he could hardly hold it against her. No one should play the game as well as he did.

He flashed her a cocky smile, tacitly indicating a return to their usual social banter. The song was coming slowly to an end. "So, what do you say? Dinner?"

"_I know it's wrong; it must be wrong. But right or wrong, I can't get along without you."_

Diana shook her head slowly. "No," she said. "I'm afraid not."

"_I can't get along without you."_

They came gradually to a stop. "That's too bad," he said.

"It is." She stepped back, felt his hands reluctantly fall away. "And I'm afraid I have another engagement this evening."

"Until next time, Princess."

"Until next time."

* * *

**A/N: **This whole thing came about because I was listening to Billie Holiday while I wrote, and I realized how perfect for Bruce & Diana "I'm A Fool to Want You" is (seriously, listen to it. It's on Youtube, easy peasy), and then realized that Billie had also done a version of "Am I Blue," and the Billie Holiday thing spiraled out from there. So every chapter in this story carries the name of a Billie Holiday song.

Diana's dress is basically the one Jennifer Aniston wore to the 2013 Academy Awards, if you're interested.


	3. What a Little Moonlight Can Do

_Disclaimer: Everything belongs to DC et al. Except for the pseudo-science. That stuff is alllll me._

* * *

Diana left Bruce on the dance floor and sought out her hostess and the director of the hospital to give her farewells. In no time at all, she was in a cab on her way back to her hotel. When she'd gotten the information on that night's mission, she'd booked a room near the gala. She liked her gown, and didn't particularly wish to fly in it.

As the cab sped past Gotham's bright lights, she ran her hands down the material in her lap. Bruce's reaction to the dress had been especially gratifying. She hadn't chosen it for that reason-she'd found that attempting to predict how Bruce would react to things was a futile effort-and she'd had no way of knowing if he was going to be at the gala, besides. That lovely Valentino man had designed the gown for her, and she was fond of it. She'd need to think carefully before wearing it out in Gotham again.

She only had thirty minutes before the League was meeting in Riverton, and the flight would take her 10, so she hurried up to her room. She carefully hung her gown in the closet, then pulled on her armor. _Out of one uniform and into another_, Diana thought. Although, it could be worse. She could be Bruce, putting on a wholly different identity with his armor. Tiara in place, she splashed a little cold water on her face and was ready to go.

She set down on the outskirts of Riverton and made her way quietly to the designated meeting spot. Superman was already there, along with Shayera, Black Canary, Flash, and Batman. Bruce must have left the party immediately after she had.

She nodded to the group at large as she stepped up next to Shayera. "No Green Lantern?"

The other woman shook her head. "J'onn got a lead on something in China. John's looking into it."

"So, where's the fire?" Flash asked.

"Warehouse. Halfway down the block." Someone spoke, and the group turned as The Question stepped out of the shadows.

"You're here, too?" Black Canary asked.

"All day. Batman thought we should have someone on the ground," Superman provided.

"They're here?" Batman asked.

Question removed his hat, which was looking crushed, quickly reshaped it, and replaced it. "In force. They're either planning something, or they're expecting an ambush."

"So, we ambush them," Shayera said.

"You think it's a trap," Batman said.

The Question cocked his head. "I'm certain of it. Does your intel contradict that?"

Batman paused, considering. "No."

"So we're careful," Superman said. "But there's no way we walk away from this, not with a possible connection to the MT Toxin."

"Is that what we're calling it now?" Batman asked.

"Yes," Diana answered. "And I agree with Superman. We go in quiet, but we go in tonight."

"I'd just like to state for the record that I think this is a bad idea," Question said.

"Noted," Batman said.

The group split up. Superman, Black Canary, and Shayera headed to the front of the warehouse, while Diana, Batman, and Flash took an alley with the aim of finding a back entrance. The Question hung back, letting the bruisers take the lead.

"I don't like this," Batman muttered as they crept along the alley. Diana was flying a few inches off the ground to avoid making any sound at all.

"Then why didn't you call a halt?" She asked.

"Because Superman's right. We need to nip this-whatever it is-in the bud."

"Going ahead," Flash said, and zipped off.

"Don't-" Batman started, but Flash was gone. "Damn it."

Diana chuckled quietly. Some things never changed.

"Shh." Batman placed his arm in front of Diana, ceasing her forward progress. He ducked behind a dumpster, and she followed. She peeked around the side, and saw Flash standing with Giganta, who looked to have just walked out the warehouse door.

"-did you come to see me?" She was asking Flash.

"Uh, yeah. I mean..." Flash was not the greatest improviser. "Yeah."

Giganta leaned in. "I've missed you," she cooed.

"You have?"

"Yes. Haven't you missed me?"

"I-" Flash glanced around in confusion. "O-of course."

A crash of sound came from the front of the warehouse. Giganta gave Flash a disappointed look. "You brought friends?"

"I thought it was a group date!" He cried, then threw a quick "Sorry, guys!" over his shoulder before sprinting around Giganta and into the warehouse.

Batman leapt over the dumpster. Diana flew upwards and made a dive towards Giganta, just as the villain began to increase her size. Diana hit her at full speed, crashing them both through the wall, which, given Giganta's size, meant that the entire back of the warehouse was gone.

Diana could barely glance of the warehouse interior before the larger woman was pulling herself up once more. Diana used her greater speed and mobility to keep her down, but she wasn't going to be able to do it indefinitely. Unlooping her lasso from her waist, she snagged Giganta's ankle, pulling it out from under her. She hit the ground hard, and concrete dust surrounded them.

"Batman!" Diana cried, knowing he wasn't far away.

"Get down," he said, and Diana ducked obediently. Something whizzed over her head, and shortly a _BZZZT_ sounded, as Giganta was hit with thousands of volts of electricity. A loud _thump_ indicated that she'd gone down before the lingering dust cleared enough for Diana to make her out.

Batman quickly bound her wrists with high tensile wire, but Diana had already moved into the next room, surveying the battle her teammates were facing. Black Canary was dodging Killer Frost's ice and getting in hits where she could while Superman and Atomic Skull traded shots. Flash and Cheetah were going head-to-head, and Shayera was using her mace to deflect the flames Heatwave was shooting at her.

Diana flew at Killer Frost, realizing that if the villain caught Dinah in one of her ice blasts, the Canary would be at the greatest disadvantage. Frost was quick, but Diana and Dinah combined were quicker. They managed to corner her, which is when Frost hit Diana with an ice blast, square in the chest. Diana had been diving at her, so the blast drove her upwards, into the roof. She hit it and fell back down, catching herself in the air as half the roof rained down around her.

She felt a flash of heat, as flames narrowly missed her face. Shayera appeared next to her, dodging the flames.

"Feel like trading fire for ice?" Diana asked Shayera as they both dove out of the way of the next blast of flames.

"Absolutely," Shayera said.

"Go for it. I'll take care of our friend's toy," Diana said. Heatwave was prepared for her to fly at him directly, so she grabbed up some of the roof debris around her and tossed the pieces quickly in his direction. While he dealt with those, she zipped around behind him and grabbed for his gun. It was hot, but not unbearably so. Diana crushed it quickly in her palm, then knocked him into a wall before he could go for whatever he had as a back-up. He slid down the wall, unconscious. It would do for now.

She heard Shayera's distinctive war cry from the other side of the room and smiled grimly. Her view of the rest of her team was blocked by the pile of debris. She rose in the air to return to the battle, when Black Canary and Atomic Skull came into view. As Diana watched, Atomic Skull hit Black Canary with a blast of radiation, sending her through an open door and into the room beyond.

Diana was across the room in an instant, knocking Atomic Skull aside with a right hook. She turned and flew into the doorway of the room where Black Canary had landed, concerned that the radiation blast might have injured her friend. The room was dark, and when Diana set herself down, she realized the floor was wet.

"Dinah?" She heard a soft moan ahead of her, and walked toward it, being as careful as she could in the darkness. Dinah's moans quieted and then disappeared, and Diana quickened her pace. From somewhere behind her, she heard Batman call out her name. She touched her earpiece. "I think Dinah's injured," she said.

"Where are you?" Batman answered.

"I'm not sure. The room's dark. Dinah got knocked in here." She nudged against something in the dark, and felt for it. A table.

"No, she-" Superman's response was drowned out as a _click_ sounded loudly in the dark. Diana spun towards the sound, and abruptly realized she couldn't breathe.

She gasped for breath, trying to speak a warning. Her knees hit the ground and she fell forward, grabbing for her throat. The ground was dry. That was odd, wrong, but she couldn't seem to remember why. She couldn't...

She tried to pull herself forward, but her limbs felt as heavy as...something. Heavier than anything she'd ever lifted.

And then her mind went quiet.

* * *

The first indication that something was wrong was when all of their opponents suddenly stopped fighting and started escaping. Batman took scope of the wreckage, then sprinted around the giant pile of debris that used to be the warehouse roof. He spotted Heatwave's crushed flame-thrower, but the man himself was gone. He could see Giganta still tied in the room beyond. That was good, they could question her.

She was struggling against the wire he'd used to restrain her, a wild-eyed look on her face. In fact, she looked _terrified_. Dread filled him, and he headed back to the others.

He reached Flash first. "Have you seen Diana?"

"I thought she was over there."

"Diana!" Batman called out.

A short moment later, her voice sounded in his ear. "I think Dinah's injured."

Batman swallowed a sigh of relief. "Where are you?"

"I'm not sure. The room's dark. Dinah got knocked in here."

Bruce felt everyone in the room still. He looked up and his gaze clashed with Black Canary's. She shrugged, looking mystified.

"No, she didn't." Superman said.

Bruce heard a faint hissing sound. Clark must also have heard it, because they turned towards it at once.

"Where is she," Bruce demanded.

Clark scanned the far side of the warehouse quickly. He pointed at one of the darkened doorways and started forward. "There!"

"No!" Bruce reached out a hand to hold his friend back. He knew it was only Clark's surprise that had him stopping. "Look."

Tendrils of purple fog were creeping out of the doorway.

Clark's expression hardened. "She's down in there, Batman."

"I know. I'll go in. Get the others out."

"_You'll_ go in?" Clark asked, incredulous.

"If it took down Wonder Woman, there's no guarantee it won't do the same to Superman." Shayera spoke up.

"Exactly." Bruce fitted the gas mask he'd brought along over his face. "I'll get her out, you figure out how to keep that gas from spreading." Without waiting for Clark to act, Bruce ran into the room.

He found her quickly. She was sprawled out on her side, one hand at her throat, the other stretched out in front of her. He felt his heart seize in his chest, and thought briefly that the toxin was affecting him, even through the mask.

But no, it was only sheer terror.

He lifted her and ran for the door, desperate to clear the building. "Teleport us _now_," he barked when he reached the rest of the team.

They materialized in the Watchtower, and he was moving before anyone around them had time to react. He was halfway down the corridor leading to the infirmary when Clark appeared in front of him.

"Give her to me," he ordered. He almost objected, but Clark could get her there inhumanly fast, and she needed inhuman help. Clark lifted her from Bruce's arms and was gone in the blink of an eye.

Bruce kept running. He and Dinah reached the infirmary at the same time. They'd put Diana in a clean room, and there was already a small crowd gathered at the observation window. Green Arrow turned from the window as they walked in. When he saw Dinah, he stretched out his arm and she went directly to him. He bent his head and they spoke softly.

Bruce could see Diana through the window, stretched out prone on the bed. J'onn and Clark stood by her side. They already had her hooked up to a handful of machines, and when Bruce saw her heartbeat up on one of the monitors, he released the breath he hadn't realized he had been holding.

"You can probably take the mask off now," John spoke from behind him.

Right. Bruce removed the gas mask. "When'd you get in?"

"Not long ago. Good thing, too. J'onn was still on the station when your message came through."

"How did you deal with the gas?"

"Teleported the whole room into space."

"Effective."

"J'onn's idea."

"How is she?" John and Bruce turned as Shayera appeared in the doorway. She hurried to the window. "She's breathing again, right?"

"Yeah, she's breathing." John rested his hand on Shayera's back. "She's okay."

"She's not okay," Bruce growled. "We have no idea what that toxin is doing to her. We don't even know how it did what it _did_. She was _dead_ down there."

Bruce realized the rest of the room had gone silent and Clark was looking at him through the window with something like worry. Or sympathy. Damn it. Bruce turned and stalked to the door.

"Where are you going?" Shayera asked.

"To figure out what the hell this thing is."

He was nearly to the teleport pad when Clark caught up with him, grabbing his arm to stop him. _Deja vu,_ Bruce thought.

"You're leaving?"

"Is there anything I can do here?"

"You could be there for her. When she wakes up."

"Do you know when that's gonna be?" When Clark stayed silent, Bruce forged on. "Exactly. What I need to do is figure this the hell out."

There was a pause. "The Question's still down there, investigating."

"Good." They walked over to the transporter. "Put me down in Riverton," he told the teleporter tech.

"Yes, sir."

"We're doing everything we can, Batman." Clark said.

"I know."

_I will alert you when she wakes up_, J'onn spoke in his mind.

Bruce kept his thoughts deliberately neutral, but knew that the Martian could sense his fear.

_Don't let her die_, he thought.

_I will do everything in my power._

Then the teleporter lit, and he was back in Riverton. On the hunt.

* * *

**A/N: **Fight choreography is not my forte (I prefer the talky talky stuff), so hopefully this chapter made some sense.

I appreciate the reviews and comments I've received on this, so much! The main concern so far seems to be that I won't finish. While I doubt that any writer sets out to leave a story unfinished, that is especially not the case here. I have a nice buffer of chapters already written, and the plan is to post them weekly to give myself time to write more.

So thanks for reading (and reviewing!), and a Happy Free Comic Book Day to us all!


	4. Foolin' Myself

_Disclaimer: Everything belongs to DC et al. Except for the pseudo-science. That stuff is alllll me._

* * *

The town was eerily quiet as Bruce made his way back to the warehouse from where the teleport had deposited him. He expected to hear The Question mumbling to himself at least. He walked with even greater care, creeping down the alley until the ruined warehouse came into view.

The area was cordoned off, but local law enforcement wouldn't move in until the Justice League had cleared it. Sometimes departments put up a fuss about it, but the Riverton PD was perfectly happy to let the League do its thing, especially with the added threat of a contagion.

Bruce picked his way through the wreckage of the room where he and Diana had taken Giganta down. The villain had been taken to Metro Tower until she could be questioned. He moved into the main room, where most of the battle had taken place. It had been largely empty until Diana had brought the roof down. Nothing of interest here.

A shaft of moonlight shone through the doorway through which, less than an hour before, Bruce had carried Diana. He peered over the threshold. The entire room, including walls and floor, had vanished. There was a space beneath where the floor had been that he hadn't noticed before. There was no basement or cellar on the warehouse plans, at least the official ones. He shined a light into the darkness. It appeared sturdy, so he leapt lightly into the hole.

Despite what the official plans said, there was definitely a space down here. He could see a line of tables at a glance. He moved forward into the room. Thanks to his cowl, he heard the soft _shfft_ and jumped back, just as someone lunged at him in the dark.

"Oh," came a voice. "It's you."

"Told you," Question replied from further ahead.

"What's she doing here?" Bruce asked, nodding briefly toward Huntress.

"Q cancelled our date. Third time this month." Huntress said, sounding disgruntled.

"So you invited yourself along?" Bruce asked.

She shrugged. "Sure. Nothing says romance like a warehouse on the verge of collapse."

Bruce let that comment lie. "What've you got?" He asked The Question.

"A room that shouldn't be here."

"Noticed that."

"It's not large enough to have produced the quantity of the MT Toxin that you found, but they were definitely doing some kind of testing down here."

There were a few microscopes, bottles of various chemicals, some labeled and some blank, and what looked like a mass spectrometer. Bruce looked through a stack of papers.

"Who was doing the testing?" Huntress poked idly at a test tube. "None of that bunch are exactly Marie Curie, you know?"

"Ah, that's one I can answer," Question said, "While you and the rest were at it here, I did some asking around town. Seems there were some strangers in town recently, staying at the motel."

"When did they check out?"

"Last week."

Bruce resisted the urge to growl, barely. "So it was a trap."

"It seems so." Question cleared his throat. "How is Wonder Woman?"

"Alive."

There was a short silence. Bruce wanted to bring Wally down, get his impression of the makeshift lab, but couldn't do so with Question and Huntress here.

"Alright, we're done here for now."

Huntress brightened. "We can go?"

"I never wanted _you _here," Bruce said.

"We can go! Come on, Q, you owe me dinner. _And_ dessert." She sauntered out.

"You sure?"

"Yes. Go," Bruce told the other man.

Question shrugged. "Suit yourself."

Once they'd cleared the premises, Bruce called up to the Tower and requested Flash join him at the warehouse. In a matter of seconds, he heard the distinctive rumble above that heralded his teammate's arrival.

"Batman?"

"Down here," he called.

"Down whe-" The was a thump from the far side of the room. Flash stood from where he'd landed. "Oh. What's this?"

"Some kind of lab. I was hoping you could provide some insight."

"Insight? Me?"

"Yes. _You," _Bruce emphasized.

"Oh. _That_ me. Well, okay, let's see here..." Wally zipped around the room, inspected each item at light speed, then reappeared next to Bruce. "They were testing the toxin, although in minute amounts. Combining it with tissue, too."

Which was exactly what Bruce had thought. "Any sense of who was doing the testing?"

"Someone with some knowledge of genetics, based on some of the notes here."

Bruce had looked at the same notes. "How can you tell?"

Flash shrugged. "Hard to explain. Has to do with how the testing was done. Our DNA tech in Central does the same thing."

"Interesting. Thanks." Bruce headed for the ladder in the corner of the room, which was presumably the actual method of entry, then turned back. "Oh. I'm going to suggest to Superman that you be the one to interrogate Giganta, since you two have such a rapport."

"We...do?"

"She seems to like you."

Flash blinked, as if he hadn't given any thought to it. "She does, doesn't she? And...after we took out Darkseid's magma tapper, she did kiss me."

Batman turned away. "Wonderful. See what you can get from her."

He started to climb the ladder. Flash spoke from behind him. "She'll be okay, Bats. Won't she?"

Bruce paused. "I don't know."

"I wish I hadn't used the rest of the mocha this morning. I wish-"

"Don't do that. It doesn't do any good."

"Yeah," he heard Flash say. "I know."

* * *

Back in the Bat Cave, Bruce was working up profiles. Based on Wally's information and additional questioning done in Riverton, he knew that the basement techs, whoever they were, had not been prisoner to the Society. He also had physical descriptions, which he had built a search algorithm around.

He'd been at it for hours when his eyes crossed. He sat back from the monitor and checked the time. He'd worked nearly through the night, but had yet to hear from J'onn about Diana. He pushed the worry to the back of his mind.

It was nearly dawn, and he had one more drop-in to make before the sun came up.

Bruce landed softly on the fire escape outside Jim Gordon's home office. As expected, the Commissioner was still awake. The light from his computer monitor reflected bright white off of his glasses in the dim light as he typed. Bruce tapped lightly on the window.

Jim glanced up, long since used to the occasional nocturnal Bat-visit. He made a few final keystrokes, then rose to admit Bruce.

"Batman," he said by way of greeting.

"Jim."

"Is this about what went down in Riverton tonight?"

"What do you know about it?"

Jim shrugged. "Not much. Just that there was a metahuman throw-down and a warehouse paid the price. Your people locked it down pretty quickly."

Which was about all he wanted the general public to know. "Basically. But you should know that we've come across a potential threat to Gotham. Have you heard anything about a toxin being produced or transported here?"

Jim thought for a moment. "No. But we have had reports of equipment going missing from local labs."

Bruce knew about those. "Yeah. Keep your ear to the ground. This stuff shows chemical properties I've never seen before, and it's fatal if inhaled or ingested."

"Thanks for the intel."

"Related to that-any scientists or lab techs go missing recently?"

"Now that you mention it...yes. But it was odd."

"Howso?"

"A geneticist was reported missing by his husband, but it hadn't been 24 hours, so he couldn't file a report. He called back later to say he'd been mistaken."

"His husband showed up?"

"I don't know. Didn't give it much thought, honestly. My guys figured the situation had resolved itself."

"Got a name?"

Jim turned to his monitor. "Yes. Dr. Travis Kellion. Does that help-?" Jim turned to discover he was speaking to an empty room. Of course. He shut the window, then switched off the light.

* * *

Batman pulled up Dr. Kellion's address using the Batmobile's onboard computer, then had the computer recite relevant information about the man as he drove. He tried to focus on what he was hearing, but the image of Diana lying pale and still in the Watchtower infirmary was seared on his brain. He was tempted to call and check up on her, but he knew that J'onn would keep his word. Calling would only distract the Martian, and Bruce wanted him totally focused on Diana.

They all tended to think of Wonder Woman as immortal, but that wasn't strictly the case. Amazons were hardier than humans, true, and while they were eternally youthful, they could be killed. Throughout centuries of warfare, many of them had been. Even Diana, whose suspect parentage indicated she might even be a demi-god, could be killed.

He'd spent so much time considering what watching him age and die would do to her that he'd never considered that she might go first. He felt foolish, an unfamiliar sensation to be sure, and terrified anew.

He parked around the corner from the Kellions' house, and struggled to remember what had been recited to him on the way. Right. Travis Kellion was married with three kids. His husband was Darren. His kids were Jordan, age eight, Lindsay, six, and Henry, 9 months.

Bruce surveyed the house when it came into view. Located in a modest Gotham suburb, it was small but neat, with a basketball hoop in the drive and kids' bikes parked on the porch. All but one of the first floor windows were dark. The front window shades were drawn, so Bruce couldn't see in them even with the night vision on his cowl. He switched to thermal imaging and scanned the house.

There were two adult-sized signatures on the first floor, and one adult and two child-sized signatures on the second floor. Switching the thermal off, Bruce crept around the back of the house to peek in the one lit window. Two men sat in the kitchen. Bruce didn't recognize their faces, but he knew the type. Hired thugs. A gun lay on the table between them.

Bruce doubted the Society would have ordered more than two men to guard one small family, so the adult on the second floor was probably Darren Kellion. It seemed excessive to use a grapple on the little house, so he scaled a trellis and made his way quietly across the roof towards the one lit window on the second floor.

He stopped to look in the darkened room which had registered the smaller heat signatures. In it were two twin beds. The boy, Jordan, slept sprawled on his stomach underneath sheets decorated with stars and planets. His sister was curled under a comforter emblazoned with Wonder Woman's insignia and had her arms wrapped around a stuffed Flash. It seemed Wally had fans even in Gotham.

Bruce continued to the lit window, which a glance told him was the nursery. Darren Killion sat inside, rocking his fussy child. He looked exhausted. Bruce considered his options, then tapped lightly on the window. The man inside looked up blearily. His eyes widened when he spotted Batman. He raised a single finger, then walked to shut the nursery door. Still bouncing his son, Darren unlatched the window.

"Do you know where they've taken Travis?" He asked in a whisper, as soon as Batman had stepped inside.

"No. He went missing last week?"

Darren nodded. "It was his turn to pick Jordan and Lindsay up from Tae Kwon Do class. Travis can get wrapped up in his work, but he always gets to their class early to watch them. He was a red belt back in high school. He _never_ misses a class."

"So when he didn't show, you reported him missing."

"I guess they didn't figure on me noticing so soon, because they didn't show up until dinnertime."

"The men downstairs?"

Darren nodded again. "First they told me that they were from the lab, that Travis had to go on an emergency trip. Well, I didn't buy that. Travis is meticulous. He'd never leave for a trip on the fly like that. I tried to close the door on them, and that's when they showed me their guns. They've been here ever since. Said we're their insurance policy, in case Travis won't cooperate. Cooperate with _what? Who are they?"_

Darren's voice had gotten louder, and the baby started to cry.

Bruce went to the door, but could hear no movement from the men below.

"He's teething." Bruce turned to face Darren. The other man nodded at his son. "Henry's teething. He's been crying off and on all night."

"Mr. Kellion. We don't know where your husband is, but we are looking. I wish I could tell you that I was here to take out those men, but the fact is that as long as they're here, Travis is safe."

Darren sighed. "I know that. I'm sorry."

"But the situation isn't hopeless. The League will send someone to keep an eye on you. You won't know they're here, but should anything change inside this house, you will have immediate back-up."

The other man's eyes filled with tears. _"Thank you," _he gasped, "You have no idea how much that helps."

Bruce made for the window.

"Please," Darren spoke behind him. "Bring him back to us safe."

"I'll try."

Back in the Batmobile, Bruce called the Watchtower. Mr. Terrific answered. "I located the family of one of the people the Society took, a Dr. Kellion. They're on house arrest to ensure Kellion's good behavior-two armed guards, human. I'm transmitting the address now. We need to establish a monitor. I recommend Black Canary."

"Roger that, Batman. We'll send someone down immediately."

"Good."

"Actually, your timing is impeccable. J'onn was just about to contact you."

"Batman," came the Martian's carefully modulated voice.

"Yes."

"She's awake."

Bruce nearly pulled the car over, the wave of relief that hit him was so strong. Instead he took a deep breath and programmed the Batmobile to pilot itself home.

"I'll be there soon."

* * *

**A/N: **Batman isn't good at waiting. He's better at creeping about.

I hope you enjoyed the little Kellion family because they are my favourite thing ever and I love them.


	5. Trav'lin' Light

_Disclaimer: Everything belongs to DC et al. Except for the pseudo-science. That stuff is alllll me._

* * *

Diana was relatively certain she was in someone else's body. Her own body had certainly never felt so heavy. Moving her limbs felt like moving through concrete, and even that had never been so difficult before.

_It's alright, Wonder Woman. You're safe. Be still._ It was J'onn's voice, firm and gentle.

She struggled to open her eyes. Her vision was blurry, but she could make out the familiar lines of the Watchtower infirmary. She glanced down at herself-and it was herself, armor and all. So, it was her own body betraying her.

"What...?" Her voice was barely audible, even to her own sharp ears.

Fortunately, Superman's were better. "You were hit by the MT Toxin."

She struggled to turn her head and look at Kal. "_I _was?"

"Yes. It...it was bad, Diana."

"Your heart stopped," J'onn supplied.

That was bad. "Oh," she managed. She tried to remember the moments leading up to everything going dark, and something alarming occurred to her. "Dinah-?"

"Black Canary is fine," Superman said. "She was nowhere near the room with the toxin."

That was wrong. Diana had seen her. "No..."

Superman exchanged glances with J'onn. "We're not sure _what_ you saw, honestly. But Dinah is just fine. See?" He gestured at the room's observation window.

Diana looked over, and sure enough, there was Dinah, standing with Green Arrow. The blonde woman gave her a little wave. Diana could also see Shayera and Flash, so they were fine, too. That was good.

But... "Batman?"

"Also safe. He's investigating."

Good. That was good.

"How do you feel?" J'onn asked.

Diana could hardly voice how she felt, it was so foreign to her. "Tired," she said. Not accurate, but close.

"Get some sleep, then," Superman said.

She nodded, and let her eyes drift close. She floated midway between waking and sleep for a few minutes.

"-guess is that she will fully recover, but it will take time. A few days, at least, for her system to purge the toxin."

"Should we be searching for an antidote?"

"Not for Diana. But should anyone else become infected..."

She drifted off, thinking, _So he _is _okay._

* * *

Bruce Wayne pulled his car up to the Manor, and when he stepped out he looked every inch the billionaire businessman he was. He'd put in a full day at Wayne Enterprises, which had been wall to wall meetings and conference calls.

Alfred opened the door as he approached. "Good evening, sir."

"Good evening, Alfred."

"Your timing is impeccable. Dinner will be served momentarily."

"Great."

Bruce strolled through the house until he reached his study. Admittedly, it didn't get as much use as his monitor station in the Bat Cave did, but it was outfitted with every comfort that the CEO of Wayne Enterprises might need to manage his empire from home, and he did occasionally do just that. He set his briefcase on his desk, loosened his tie, and touched his earpiece. "Watchtower, this is Batman. Is J'onn still aboard?"

"He is. I'll put you through to him," Bruce didn't recognize the voice and assumed it was a civilian contractor.

"Batman?"

"J'onn," he answered. "What's the status?"

"She is the worst patient I have ever had under my care. Ever."

Bruce tried to suppress his smile and failed. "Worse than me?"

J'onn sounded weary and amused. "Worse than you, Batman."

Bruce looked up as Alfred appeared in the study doorway. He nodded at the butler, then spoke to J'onn. "I might have an idea about that, actually."

Bruce followed Alfred into the dining room and took his seat. Alfred placed a dish in front of him. "Carrot ginger soup to start, sir, with Beef Wellington and roasted asparagus to follow. I've prepared affogato for dessert."

"Alfred, you're wasted on me."

"Indeed, sir."

* * *

Diana was ready to mutiny. You'd think that after spending centuries on the same small island, she'd have no problem staying on the Watchtower for a few days. The difference, of course, was that she now knew what else the world held, and had a purpose that she was itching to get back to. No, she wasn't back at 100%, but surely she could help out in _some_ way. She could catch up on embassy paperwork, at the very least. And be anywhere but here, where all she had to do was smile reassuringly while her teammates came by and gave her worried looks.

She had escaped the infirmary while J'onn was back on Earth and was attempting to get back to her quarters. If she could get her armor on, surely she could con someone into letting her teleport back to the embassy.

"That's just sad," someone spoke up behind her.

"Shut up, Batman."

"What do you think you're doing, Diana?" Her aching limbs demanded she stop to talk to him, but she knew if she stopped, it would be doubly hard to get going again.

"I just want to sleep in my own bed without a crew of doctors watching me. Is that really so much to ask?"

"No." Bruce wrapped an arm around her waist, taking part of her weight. She allowed it, letting her arm rest across his shoulders. They continued towards her quarters. "If that's what you were actually doing. But it isn't, is it, Diana? You're planning to escape."

"Maybe." She paused to breathe heavily. He stood patiently until she was ready to move again. "What are you going to do about it?" She tried to infuse her tone with menace, and thought she did a credible job of it, especially considering she could barely walk unassisted.

They'd reached her quarters. Batman reached out with his free hand to open the door. "Help you," he said.

"What?" She peered into the room, and saw that a suitcase sat open on her bed, her armor inside it. She beamed at him happily. "Really?"

"Yes." She pulled away from him and made a beeline for her dresser. "But there are rules."

She stopped in the act of opening a drawer and sighed. "Of course there are."

He made sure the door was locked, then inputted a code on the keypad that she was pretty sure muted the monitor system. "You'll be staying at the Manor. Alfred can keep an eye on you, and we have the medical facilities should you need any additional care. J'onn will be checking in. Regularly."

Diana scowled. "I'm _fine."_

"You are not fine," he said, raising an eyebrow when she sat on the bed, breathing heavily. "You're at 20%, _maybe_."

She resisted the urge to groan, barely. He was right.

"You're free to do any work for the Embassy, so long as it does not require leaving the premises. I have state-of-the-art telecommuting equipment already in place, so you can even attend meetings. You will not be going anywhere as Wonder Woman. Deal?"

It was a good deal. More, it was the best deal she was likely to get. Plus, she liked Alfred. She had gotten to know him while she and J'onn had stayed at the Manor following the destruction of the first Watchtower. He would be good company without hovering over her. She had no illusions that she'd see Bruce any more than usual, even while staying in his house.

She reached into the suitcase and drew out her armor.

"Diana..." Bruce said in warning.

"Fine. I'll take your deal. But I am walking to the teleporter on my own, and wearing my armor while doing it. Got it?"

Pride was something he understood all too well. He nodded. "Need help packing?"

She started to refuse, just on principle, but she was exhausted and needed to conserve all of her energy for her walk across the station. "Yes."

She thought he might call one of the girls to help, but he stayed and obediently moved the clothes she indicated from their drawers to the suitcase. She started to point to her bag of toiletries, then remembered that she'd taken them with her to the hotel in Gotham. Which meant- "Oh, no!"

Batman didn't look up from where he was zipping the case shut. "What is it?"

"My dress! I left it in the hotel."

There was a beat. "It's already at the Manor."

"It is?"

"Yes. Bruce Wayne's loyal retainer retrieved it for you."

"That was kind of him."

"His motives were selfish, I assure you."

"Alfred's were?"

Another beat. "No." Before she could press him, he hefted the case. "All set?"

"Once I have my armor on."

"Right. I'll go on ahead. I'll see you in the Cave." He unlocked the door and walked out.

Presumably he would give her some way of teleporting to the cave on her own, since he'd certainly never given her the code. She carefully pulled off the scrubs she'd had to wear in the infirmary and donned her armor. She was grateful the uniform was as simple as it was. She wouldn't have had the energy to deal with additional pieces.

The boots were the hardest to get into, but she managed and left her quarters. Shayera was waiting in the hall for her.

"Oh, hello, Wonder Woman."

Diana stifled a sigh. "Hello." She started her slow trek to the transporter room.

"I hear you're taking a sabbatical."

"Is that what I'm doing?"

Shayera shrugged, an amused look on her face. "That's what I heard."

"You don't have to walk with me all the way to the transporter."

Shayera feigned surprise. "Oh, is that where you're headed? As it happens, so am I."

Diana shot her a suspicious look.

"No, really. Monitor duty. I mean, I could take the long way if you'd prefer..."

Diana wasn't going to make her friend circumnavigate the Watchtower just because she was grumpy. "No, no. I never asked-what did John find in China?"

"A whole lotta nothing. Whoever's behind the MT Toxin harvested a lot of the plant, but that was months ago, best he and J'onn can tell."

"Another dead end."

"Diana, save for any unexpected natural disasters, this is the only thing anyone's working on right now. It's terrible what happened to you, but we all know that if it had happened to someone who _wasn't_ an Amazon..."

"I know."

"I know it sucks being out of commision, but trust me-we're on it."

Diana managed a smile. "I know that, Shay. I have the greatest faith in all of you to figure this out."

"Good." They'd reached the teleporter. J'onn was waiting for them. He offered his hand in a way that was too courteous for Diana to resist, even though she knew his ulterior motive was ensuring she stepped onto the platform without falling on her face.

"Enjoy your rest, Diana. I will see you soon." She squeezed his hand in response.

"Bye, Diana," Shayera said. She cocked an eyebrow. "Have fun down there!"

Then the platform lit and Diana was gone.

* * *

**A/N**: This chapter and the next are a bit shorter than the previous ones, as that's the way the pacing worked out. When I write these, I don't have a word count I aim for, I break chapters up based on where it feels the most natural. However, because they are shorter, I may put up the next chapter midweek, meaning you might get a two-fer! It depends on how much buffer I get written in the next few days.

Bruce's dinner: affogato is an Italian dessert-y beverage, a scoop of vanilla gelato topped with a shot of espresso. Some recipes also throw a shot of Amaretto or another liqueur on there, but Alfred makes it the classic way. Also, carrot-ginger soup is delicious and you should try it.


	6. Everything I Have Is Yours

_Disclaimer: Everything belongs to DC et al. Except for the pseudo-science. That stuff is alllll me._

* * *

When Diana appeared in the Bat Cave, she found both Bruce and Alfred waiting for her. Which was fortunate, as her legs immediately gave out underneath her. Bruce, who had switched out his armor for basic black civilian clothes, must have been expecting as much, and he stepped up in time to catch her around the waist. He bent to lift her, and she automatically tried to stop him.

"I can walk."

He speared her with a look. "The stairs, Diana."

Diana looked past him to the long, long staircase leading from the Cave to the Manor. "I can also fly."

"Have you tried to?" She had. It had been even more exhausting than walking.

He waited patiently for her to come to the same conclusion that he had: she couldn't fly, and even with help, it was going to be too much for her. "Fine," she acquiesced.

He continued with his proposed motion, and swept her up. He resisted smirking at her, a show of restraint that she appreciated. She tightened her arms around his neck, and when she was comfortable, they started to the stairs.

"Hello, Alfred," Diana said as they passed by the butler.

"Greetings, Miss Diana. We are pleased to have you, despite the unfortunate circumstances."

"Thank you. I hope I'm not the worst patient."

"That would be be impossible, Miss."

She smiled. Bruce was stoically looking forward, no expression on his face. "I'll try to stay out of your hair," she directed at him.

"You have the run of the house, as you know."

"But not the Cave?"

He scowled. "Diana, you are here to recover."

"Will you at least keep me in the loop? Please?"

They'd reached the stairs. Bruce tightened his grip where his hands held her, at her waist and knees. She tried very hard not to think about those hands. They started the climb. He still hadn't answered her.

"Bruce?" She prompted.

"Fine," he answered, sounding extremely reluctant.

"Thank you."

They completed the rest of the climb in silence, Diana torn between mortification about being carried and the excitement that seemed to occur naturally when she and Bruce were in close physical proximity. His heart rate had increased, she could tell, but he wasn't even breathing heavily. She was an Amazon-no small burden. Her respect for his strength went up.

They reached the ground floor of the house, and he continued to the main staircase. "Don't you have an elevator?" Diana asked.

"It's fine," he said.

"Bruce Wayne, are you showing off?"

"Maybe I'm just taking advantage of the rare opportunity to haul you around."

"Be careful, or I'll reciprocate when you least expect it."

Bruce shot her a look out of the corner of his eyes. "Get better, and we'll see."

Alfred met them at the top of the stairs, apparently having chosen to use the elevator. "I've put you in your usual room," he said, then led the way down the hallway.

"Usual" made it sound like she'd stayed at the Manor more than the once. But she was familiar with the room, and she appreciated Alfred's thoughtfulness.

The room was the same as she remembered it, light-filled and decorated with delicate antique furniture. The walls were spotted with fine paintings, the largest of which depicted a Mediterranean seascape, which Diana thought was likely the reason Alfred had chosen the room for her in the first place. It reminded her a little of home, and she loved it.

Bruce placed her on the bed, then stood back. Gazing around the room, Diana noticed her bag of toiletries sitting on the vanity, and the armoir door was open to reveal her red gown hanging there. Her suitcase was sitting on a luggage rack next to the dresser.

She looked back at Bruce, who was watching her, an odd look on his face. He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it. "Rest," he said, and then walked out of the room.

Alfred gave her a kind smile. "Anything you need, simply dial 1 on the room phone, Miss Diana."

"Thank you, Alfred. I can't tell you how wonderful it is just to be back on Earth."

He smiled at her, bowed slightly in response, and walked out after his employer.

"Well," Diana said to the empty room, "what now?"

* * *

Bruce spent the next hour catching up on patrol reports in the Cave. He usually wrote them promptly upon coming home, but he'd been distracted by the toxin and Diana's illness and fallen behind. Not that he wasn't distracted now, with her in his home above him. It was going to be even worse than when she'd stayed at the Manor before. Then, she'd had J'onn to keep her company, so Bruce had simply fled. Wayne Enterprises had never been so attentively run, nor Gotham so free of even the pettiest of crime. The new Watchtower construction was completed in record time.

It had been exhausting.

Bruce knew he didn't have that option this time around. He couldn't in good conscious abandon her to her own devices when she was ill and determined to do things her recovering body wasn't ready for. And he couldn't ask Alfred to babysit her constantly. The man had other things to do. He was going to have to be...social. With Diana. Alone in his house.

It might actually kill him.

He finished his reports and returned to the Manor proper. He found the house quiet, Alfred evidently having gone to bed. It was nearly dawn, so that wasn't surprising. Without consciously planning to do so, he found himself outside Diana's room. Faint light shone beneath the door. Was she still up?

"She unpacked half of her case and then fell asleep." Bruce glanced over at Alfred, garbed in his dressing gown. "I took the liberty of removing her boots."

Bruce cracked open the door. Sure enough, Diana lay sprawled across the bed, bare feet hanging off the edge, still wearing her armor. He knew she wasn't as sensitive to temperature as the rest of humanity, but the house was drafty and it still looked uncomfortable.

He nodded at Alfred. "I'll see to her. Go on to bed."

"As you wish, Master Bruce. Good night."

"Good night."

He entered the room. Aside from the clothes she'd put away, nothing in the room had been touched. He noticed that she'd been in the middle of filling a drawer when she'd stopped.

He smirked. "Passed out, did you?"

He realized that she'd been putting her things away in the same configuration as she'd had them stored in her quarters on the Tower, so he quickly finished the job and stowed her suitcase. Then he turned to survey his guest.

She was sleeping half on her side, with one arm across her midsection and the other thrown out to the side. It was eerily reminiscent of the way she'd looked when he'd found her in the warehouse, and for a moment he simply watched the pulse beat in her neck until the memory of that left him. She was still wearing her tiara, and for the first time he'd known her it looked uncomfortable, pressed hard into the skin on her forehead by the position of her head.

He hesitated, then carefully removed it, placing it on the bedside table. It had left an angry red line across her skin, marring the otherwise smooth porcelain. Even like this, unhealthily pale and with dark smudges beneath her eyes indicating her exhaustion, she was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. He realized he was standing over her, staring, and wouldn't that be an unsettling thing for her to wake up to? He needed to get out of there.

He decided she was truly out, and shifted her so her feet were fully on the bed and a pillow was beneath her head. He pulled a plush blanket out of the chest at the foot of the bed and covered her.

He switched off the light and left the room, closing the door behind him. Then he stood in the hallway, letting his heart rate slow. He felt as if he'd just run a race across Gotham's rooftops. It was ridiculous.

What had seemed like an inspired idea to save J'onn a headache, make Diana more comfortable, and Alfred happy in one fell swoop seemed more perilous by the moment, and she'd only been in the house a handful of hours. Asleep.

This was going to kill him.

* * *

At first, the light confused her. She was used to waking in a darkened room, regardless of whether she was Earthside or on the Watchtower. But there was sunlight streaming through windows-lots of windows. Where-oh, yes. Wayne Manor.

She pushed up on her elbows, trying to piece together her memories of the night before. She was fairly certain she'd fallen asleep in the middle of unpacking, but all of her things had been put away. _Alfred must have finished,_ she thought, and was mildly embarrassed. For all that she'd been raised a member of royalty, she was princess of a society of warriors on a tiny island. She hadn't been tended by servants since she'd grown old enough to hold a sword. It had been many, many years.

She pushed aside the blanket-_where had that come from?-_and sat up fully. As she swung her legs off the bed, two things happened simultaneously: the room spun and her stomach growled, so loud that she actually heard it echo. She pushed back a wave of nausea and forced herself to stand. She steadied herself on the bedside table, and her hand found her tiara there. More mysteries. They would wait. First, she needed food.

There was a light tap at the door.

"Yes, come in," she called.

It swung open to reveal Alfred, holding a tray with what looked like a breakfast service. If he someday revealed that he was psychic, Diana would not be a bit surprised. "Good morning, Miss Diana. You slept well, I hope?" He entered the room and set the tray on a round table near the windows.

"I suppose I did," she said, thinking of her mysteries. "What time is it?"

"11 o'clock, Miss."

She was stunned. "So late!"

"Later than you think." He smiled at her kindly. "You slept for a day and a half."

"What?"

"Indeed. You arrived here the night before last."

"Hera," she breathed, but she was quickly distracted from her disbelief by hunger.

Alfred had removed the lid from the tray. He knew the size of her appetite well, and had clearly also recalled her tastes. There was a thick spinach and mushroom omelet, Greek yogurt with fruit and cereal, and smaller bowls containing dates, dried apricots, and kalamata olives.

"Alfred, you wonderful man. This looks wonderful."

"I also took the liberty of preparing an iced mocha for you. Master Bruce assured me the meal would be incomplete without it." He tipped the pitcher he held into a glass.

"You made a pitcher?" When Diana had stayed before, she'd gone out to get her mocha fix rather than request a drink Alfred would have had no reason to even possess the ingredients for. Clearly that had changed. In fact, if she knew Bruce and Alfred, she would bet that somewhere in the Manor there was a stockpile of her favourite dark chocolate syrup. She laughed.

"Miss?"

"Oh, do forgive me, Alfred. I was only imagining the look on Flash's face if he could see that pitcher. Thank you."

"Of course. I will leave you to your meal."

"No, please. If you have the time, I would love your company. It's been too long since we caught up."

An Alfred smile was not as rare as a Bruce Wayne smile, but earning one felt like no less of an accomplishment. "It would be my pleasure, Miss Diana."

Despite her hunger, it had been so long since her last meal that it was actually a bit hard to eat. But Alfred sat with her and they chatted about everything from opera (a passion of Alfred's) to politics (Diana maintained that the Electoral College really just didn't make any sense) to the best way to prepare octopus as, bite by bite, she put the meal away. She had no trouble at all killing the pitcher of mocha.

When she had finally finished, she began to stack the plates on the tray, but Alfred stopped her. "Allow me."

"Thank you for sitting with me."

"Miss, it would not be an exaggeration to say that having you here is the most excitement I've had in ages. And I live with Batman."

She laughed. "I can only hope to live up to your expectations."

"You already have."

Alfred started toward the door, tray in hand.

"Oh, Alfred, before you go-thank you for putting my things away. And for the blanket. It was very kind of you."

"Miss Diana, you know that I am at your disposal, whatever you might need. But that wasn't me."

He walked out, leaving Diana to process his statement.

"Oh."

* * *

**A/N: **I didn't make my writing quota on this story this week, so another Sunday update! Hopefully the mushiness of this chapter makes up for it.

I'm with Diana on the Electoral College thing, man.


End file.
